The thoughts of everyone at Scottish Refugee Council are with the family, friends, colleagues, neighbourhoods and caseworkers of people who have lost their lives in the UK’s asylum system.
A piece published in the Observer this Sunday (24 October 2021) reports on FOI investigations carried out by Scottish Refugee Council and Liberty Investigates. These FOIs revealed that 95 people have lost their lives in the UK’s asylum system between April 2016 and August 2021. Shockingly, 69 people lost their lives from January 2020 to August 2021, with almost as many deaths occurring in the first eight months of 2021 as there were in all of 2020.
Sabir Zazai said: “The thoughts of everyone at Scottish Refugee Council are with the family and friends, colleagues and caseworkers of the people who have lost their lives in the UK’s asylum system. People seeking protection in the UK arrive to the country with hopes of living in dignity and safety and dreams of rebuilding their lives. It is heart breaking that many of these people, especially given the scale and rise in deaths, may be being failed by a system that should offer sanctuary.
“A truly fair, efficient and humane asylum system would safeguard the dignity and wellbeing of those people in its care. As these devastating figures show, the UK’s asylum system may instead, for a rising number of people, be costing their lives. It is deeply concerning that the Home Office’s reporting of these deaths appears to be inconsistent, and that the latest figures expose a rapid increase of people dying in the system in recent years.
“We are worried that some of these deaths may have been preventable, and very sadly, many were predictable. The growing use of institutional accommodation by the Home Office, combined with severe poverty and the isolation of waiting in limbo for years for an asylum decision can have grave consequences. Very sadly, we saw the most serious of those consequences in Glasgow in summer 2020, where at least three people seeking asylum lost their lives.
“People going through the UK’s complex asylum system are in the care of the Home Secretary. The Home Office is aware that the conditions in which many of these deaths occurred are still in place across the system. The people behind these figures, their families and friends and all those seeking asylum in the UK need Priti Patel and her department to act now to prevent future loss of life.
“An independent investigation must be commissioned to establish exactly what is letting so many people down so catastrophically. We urgently need a humane and preventative policy that firstly gives support to the loved ones of those people who lose their lives in the asylum system, and secondly seeks to learn from these tragic deaths to prevent them in future.
“We need to see the Home Office commit to a fair, humane and effective asylum system that keeps people safe and make swift, high-quality decisions. That is something we could all be proud of. Sadly, the plans set out in the UK Government’s Nationality & Borders Bill fall very short of this. These appalling figures must serve as a turning point for the UK Government. It’s not too late to scrap the Bill’s plans for increased use of institutional accommodation, a two-tier system of refugee protection, and criminalising those seeking safety in the UK.
“Scottish Refugee Council is ready and willing to work with all partners, including the Home Office, to build an asylum system which protects the dignity and wellbeing of those in its care and empowers people to rebuild their lives within communities across the UK.
“We must ensure that no more families or friends experience the loss of a loved one in the UK’s asylum system.”
Mental health support and advice is available from
- Samaritans (116 123) 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
- Breathing Space (0800 83 85 87) Monday-Thursday 6pm to 2am, Friday 6pm-Monday 6am
Information, advice and advocacy on navigating the asylum process and welfare systems is available from SRC’s helpline (0808 196 7274). Opening hours are available on the SRC website.
